See Where Auburn Football Stacks Up In Preseason AP Poll

Head coach Alex Golesh has some work to do, but the Auburn Tigers have a favorable start to the season to help get into the top 25 in 2026.

Auburn was left out of the preseason top 25 AP Poll, but received three votes of consideration to begin the season. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Auburn football is expected to grow under head coach Alex Golesh in his first season, but the Tigers will have work to do if they want an eventual ranking in the AP Poll. 

The preseason metric came out on Monday afternoon, and Auburn was not one of the 25 teams mentioned at the top of the list. However, Golesh’s group received three votes of consideration to begin the 2026 season. 

BREAKING: Preseason College Football AP Poll🚨https://t.co/JL3USE6MnT pic.twitter.com/wImUOmUUg5

— On3 (@On3) August 17, 2026

One thing is for sure, however: Auburn will have its fair share of chances to move up quickly in the rankings with its difficult schedule.  Although the Tigers will begin the year in Atlanta with Baylor on Sept. 5, then Southern Miss a week later, they will face teams that are all ahead of them in the AP Poll to begin the year. 

Golesh will begin his SEC slate with Florida at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The Gators were the second team out of the top 25 with 51 votes. Then, Auburn hosts Vanderbilt, another unranked team, but holds more votes of consideration than the Tigers do. 

Then, four ranked matchups. Auburn travels to No. 20 Tennessee and No. 3 Georgia before going back to the Plains to host No. 11 LSU. A week later, on Halloween, Golesh will travel to Oxford to face another top 10 team, No. 9 Ole Miss. 

The Tigers’ rival, Alabama, is at No. 13 to start the year. Of course, with that game being played at the end of November, that number could fluctuate before the two kick off at Bryant-Denny Stadium to close Auburn’s regular season. 

Overall, the 2026 season will be a true test in Golesh’s first season, but Auburn will have opportunities to put a stamp on the SEC schedule with opportunities to take signature games from some of the top teams that are expected to perform in the conference. The Tigers aren’t expected to win most of their SEC contests, but that could mean they play spoiler, as Golesh did with USF in previous seasons. 

Especially if the program starts the year with wins over Baylor, Southern Miss, Florida and Vanderbilt, with three of those four games at home, it could mean that Golesh has his team ranked before going into the SEC gauntlet that lasts until Halloween. It would be a notable morale boost on the program that could keep the new head coach around for seasons to come. 

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